Economics as a Process Essays in the New Institutional Economics

The essays in Economics as a Process are all concerned with exploring theoretical approaches alternative to the conventional or 'neoclassical' paradigm. Among the schools of thought represented are transaction-cost economics: evolutionary theories: modern 'Austrian' economies: law and economics: reliability theory: and the game-theory approach to the economics of social institutions. The essays are united not by a single topic but by a coherent set of themes - themes best described under the heading of the New Institutional Economics. These include an interest in economic processes as well as in states of equilibrium: a sensitivity to the limits and contours of human rationality: and an emphasis on the various sorts of social institutions that aid and inform economic action. But the essays are not solely methodological or critical. They also include substantive essays that illustrate the New Institutional Economics in practice.

Preface; Contributors; 1. The New Institutional Economics: an introductory essay Richard N. Langlois; 2. Three types of market process Stephen C. Littlechild; 3. Organisation, competition and the growth of knowledge Brian J. Loasby; 4. Uncertainty, signal detection experiments and modelling behaviour Ronald A. Heiner; 5. The evolution of rules Andrew Schotter; 6. The tension between process stories and equilibrium models Richard R. Nelson; 7. Competition as a process: a law and economics perspective Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr; 8. The economics of governance Oliver E. Williamson; 9. Capitalism and the factory system Axel Leijonhufvud; 10. Rationality, institutions and explanation Richard N. Langlois; Index.

The essays in Economics as a Process are all concerned with exploring theoretical approaches alternative to the conventional or 'neoclassical' paradigm. The essays are united not by a single topic but by a coherent set of themes - themes best described under the heading of the New Institutional Economics.